Moms for Liberty Lose Big at the Polls

Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

The Nashville Public Library is considering its interim director for the permanent position.

Worth Reading

(Paywalled): LibraryTok flips the script on public libraries and their relevance to Gen Z.

Book Adaptations in the News

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is getting a series adaptation with Amazon.

AMC picks up Nautilus, a reimagining of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

A24 is developing the TikTok-famous self-published Magnolia Parks novels into a TV series.

Censorship News

Most people don’t know how librarians select collection materials, so what do they think of book bans?

Here’s some news to make you smile: Parental rights activists, especially Moms for Liberty, lost big in their elections Tuesday night.

Two wins for public libraries this week at the polls.

The public library trustees in Graham, Texas, are arguing over what to do about the book We Need to Talk About Vaginas: An IMPORTANT Book About Vulvas, Periods, Puberty and Sex!, which, as we’ve mentioned before, is written by a reproductive endocrinologist and geared towards 11-14 year old readers. But again, it’s the adults who are making puberty a controversial and sexual topic.

A Tyler (TX) resident wrote a letter to the editor in response to a previous letter encouraging people to oppose book bans, which she said had “misleading information.” “I don’t know if this it [sic] due to blissful ignorance, naivety or is intentionally meant to give out bad information.” There’s someone in this conversation suffering from “blissful ignorance,” but I don’t think it was the person calling for an opposition to book bans…

Public libraries ponder Florida’s rule against the American Library Association.

LaBelle (FL) City Commissioner Hugo Vargas expressed displeasure with the public library’s Banned Books Week display. When he was told that middle school children could check certain books out with parental permission, he said, “‘There are people who don’t pay attention to what their children are doing.’” So, none of this is really about parental rights…it’s about the ability of one specific group of parents to impose their beliefs on an entire community.

“Two Florida members of the right-wing Moms for Liberty group called police on a pair of school librarians over a book in a bestselling young adult fantasy series.” This is in Santa Rosa County, and the book is Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Truly, I don’t know if they genuinely believe that these books are pornographic or if they’re just that committed to the party line.

An update from last week’s news item: “With no comment at all from board members, the Hernando County [FL] School Board on Oct. 24 unanimously approved the removal of the books “It’s So Amazing” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

Dover School Board (NH) unanimously rejected an effort to remove Boy Toy from the school library.

(Paywalled): “A Downington [PA] school board candidate pretended to be the ‘Society for College Medicine’ to challenge books.” I am so ticked this article is paywalled.

A Pennsylvania public library had funding cut because of LGBTQ+ books, and then Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir stepped in.

(Paywalled): Catawba County (NC) parents have options for restricting student access to books.

The Moore County (NC) Board of Education has tabled a vote on 9 challenged books until their December meeting.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) voted to remove A Court of Frost and Starlight, saying it was too mature for high school students and “lacked educational value.”

(Paywalled): Horry County (SC) school district voted to ban an LGBTQ+ history book for kids, as well as limit access to titles by Toni Morrison and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

More on the recent decision made by the Alabama Public Library Service to sever ties with the American Library Association. It’s definitely due to pressure from funding cuts, but this quote from a member of Read Freely Alabama really hits the nail on the head: “’As much as we have empathy for the situation she found herself in, we do wish we had some stronger leadership,’ Hayden said.” Librarians and Read Freely Alabama react to the recent APLS memo, and an Alabama librarian wrote to the Alabama Library Association, saying that residents “have been betrayed by the very professionals meant to protect their rights.”

An interview with the recently fired Saline County (AR) Library Director, who was fired after refusing to relocate three challenged items. Namely, she regrets nothing. “‘I would rather be fired for supporting the First Amendment than sued for violating it.’” This is real leadership.

“Starting Jan. 1, 2024, the Rutherford County Library System [TN] will implement a new library card policy that will make it harder for minors to check out books not meant for their age group.”

Citizens for Ashland Library [OH] Accountability have distributed a flyer urging residents to vote no against the library levy. “‘It’s time to inform the library that the voices of concerned citizens who feel strongly about protecting childhood innocence and local accountability matter. Vote no on Nov. 7.’” (But it was all for naught…voters approved the library levy by almost 2,000 votes!)

Voters pass the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library tax levy. This isn’t directly related to censorship, but at this point, library levy elections all feel related.

A Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. (IN) school board member has suggested that the school libraries start labeling “controversial” books in the collection. “The policy defines a controversial issue as ‘a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion and/or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community,’” which, of course, would be a perfectly objective and reasonable metric to use. /s

The question of book banning continues in the Kenosha School District (WI).

Before running for a spot on her school board, West Des Moines (IA) resident Teri Patrick joined a group of people two years ago, calling for the school district to be investigated for distributing child pornography.

The Wyoming Department of Education has released guidance for school districts looking to revise their library book policies.

The Campbell County Public Library (WY) has appointed a new director after unceremoniously firing the previous director earlier in the year for not removing a set of challenged books from the collection. However, the new director has also had experience dealing with book challenges, and earlier this year, he refused to remove LGBTQ books from the children’s collection at his last library. So…we’ll see how this plays out.

Garfield County (CO) residents rallied against the controversial American Birthright social studies standards being implemented in the school district…and won.

Escondido Union School District (CA) just removed Looking For Alaska and This Book is Gay after a parent complained.

Elk Grove Unified School District Trustees Anthony Perez and Carmine Forcina continue to push for censorship in the school libraries.

Students at Mat-Su Career and Tech High School in Wasilla, Alaska, walked out in protest of a recent slate of school board decisions, including book bans.

The history and rise of book bans in Ireland.

Books & Authors in the News

LitHub wrote an open letter to the 92nd Street Y in New York City about its decision to cancel its event with Viet Thanh Nguyen, apparently because of Nguyen’s criticisms of Israel.

A number of Jewish authors have signed an open letter pushing back on the belief that criticism of Israel is antisemitic.

Rupi Kaur declined an invitation to the White House for a Diwali event, citing the administration’s “support of the current atrocities against Palestinians.”

An academic researcher has uncovered a new body of work that they believe was written by Louisa May Alcott using a pseudonym.

Stephen King gives a tour of his personal library.